Vandals desecrate synagogues in two Israeli cities

Two Israeli synagogues were vandalized in the last week, one in the coastal city of Netanya and another in Jerusalem, in what appear to be anti-Semitic acts in a majority-Jewish nation. Burglars broke into a synagogue a Jerusalem on Monday night and tore open the ark that houses the Torah scrolls. “We arrived this morning for prayers and saw the synagogue had been turned completely upside down,” Yisrael Levy, the synagogue’s warden, said. “We do not know who broke in, there are no cameras around the synagogue.”

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion condemned the vandalism and compared it to dark times when Jewish religious artifacts were routinely desecrated. “This is a serious incident that brings to mind dark periods for the Jewish people,” Lion said. “We cannot let such crimes happen today.” The incident comes just days after an attack on a Netanya synagogue where vandals burned Jewish prayer books and spray painted “Hail Satan” and a pentagram on the walls.